


Before the Fall

by jaylm (BlueJayTaco)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Child Papyrus, Child Sans, Child Undyne, Childhood, Childhood Trauma, Creative License, Determination, Gaster Blasters, Good W. D. Gaster, Grief/Mourning, HP levels, Impromptu adoption, Loss of Parent(s), Magic and Science, Magic-Users, Meta, Minor Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel, Monsters, Mt. Ebott, Non-binary character, Orphans, Papyrus Being Papyrus, Parent W. D. Gaster, Pre-Accident W. D. Gaster, Pre-Undertale, Prequel, Sad, Sans Needs A Hug, Scientist W. D. Gaster, Skeleton Mother, Spoilers, Undertale Kids, W. D. Gaster is not related to Skelebros, War, i guess, the player - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 01:13:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7597630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueJayTaco/pseuds/jaylm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beware the man who came from the other world.<br/>What happened before they were all shoved in a mountain? How many lives were lost in the war between monsters and humans? What happened to Gaster? There's a lot of questions unanswered and all we can do is speculate to try and find what seems right. Here's a story about how Mt. Ebott became home to monster kind. A time where the world was sent spiraling out of control and W.D. Gaster was someone completely unrecognizable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Before the Fall

**Author's Note:**

> This played with a theory I was working on with some friends about Gaster. Sorta a crackpot theory...  
> Fair warning: creative liberties were taken. Keep in mind there's a lot of time between now and Frisk's fall.  
> Also, there might be a part two. Let's just see how this goes first. (I can't be trusted writing long fanfiction anymore ;>>)

 

He couldn’t be too sure what to expect by going over to the monster’s camp on the other side of the battlefield. Maybe he should have expected the king to put his head on a spike as a warning to all the other humans. Maybe he should have expected his existence to be completely wiped from the board.

But he had to take his chances. At this point dying seemed like a welcome alternative to staying with his fellow man. He couldn’t stand to listen to the horrible things his companions said. The horrible things they said they would do with the queen if they were to catch her rather than kill her. The fact that some of the people wanted to find out where the monster children were hidden. The fact that he knew way too much about what some of those people plan to do with those poor kids.

His stomach churned when they found a few monster burial jars and began to desecrate the remains. That had become the final straw. As a man of science, he was not one for the sentimentality of honoring the dead but he knew well enough there were many of the living who still needed the solace. He would not be one of the humans who ruined that.

So, he decided he would disappear.

He left under the cover of night with nothing but the black clothing on his back and a mind that never gave him the option of staying on this corrupted side. If he was lucky, they would all think he was killed and wouldn’t do anything to look for him. He wasn’t my any means a highly popular soul; he did what he was told and nothing more. He wasn’t there to make friends. He was there because he loved humanity.

What this war showed him was not the accurate representation of humanity.

It didn’t take him long to find the monster camp. Everyone had been closing in on it slowly. They knew the king was stationed there so they did their best to be cautious or risk losing their lives. Much of their defenses were magic based which was finite in most humans. It made it nearly impossible for the opposing side to sneak up on them despite their knowledge of the camp’s positioning. He sort of thought the magic alone would be his biggest problem.

Instead, he was on the ground, cross-eyed and looking at the business end of a glowing white bone sword. Holding the hilt was a tall skeleton covered from head to toe in black armor shaped to fit their form perfectly; right down to the plates on their spine. Something red was attached to their neck and it whipped around in the wind.

“Human, you must be a special kind of stupid.” A female voice said calmly from the inside of the helmet. The human could hear the rage wrapped around those words.

He put up his hands in defense. “I come in peace. I would like to help out your cause.”

The sword moved back just slightly from between the eyes to his chin. Whatever the skeleton was expecting, it certainly wasn’t that. She tilted her head. “Oh, yeah? Maybe you can help by showing us what your insides look like.”

“Flesh and organs. Fat and blood. Then a skeleton. Like you.” He was always horrible at things like this. He knew it was a threat but his mind always wanted to give an answer. “Please. I think I would be able to help bring this war to an end.”

“You give me no reason to trust you.”

“I’m not asking for your trust right away.” He tried to keep calm. It would do him no good to panic. “I only ask for the chance to show you.”

The sword began to lower reluctantly. She growled then turned her head and shouted. “Gerson! I need you out here!”

A few minutes passed at a turtle monster came walking out with a large mallet on his shoulder. He raised a brow at the sight of the human. “Really? You need my help with this?”

“We should take him to Asgore.”

“Why? What does the human have that we would want?” He didn’t look away from the human. “We should kill it right here and now.”

She placed a hand on his shoulder gently. “Asgore could gain some insight from this. Let’s give him a chance.”

Gerson looked at her before letting out a long sigh. “You’re too nice to these things. Why are you out here on the battlefield? How did you even get to be a part of the guard?”

“Gerson....”

“Yeah yeah. Human, come with me. Apparently Avenir has some sort of boner for human safety now.”

She chuckled as her weapon faded from her hand. “Gerson, my bones are my business.”

He snorted but didn’t say anything more as he grabbed hold of the human and pulled him to his feet. The act was so rough, it nearly dislocated his shoulder.

But he didn’t say anything. He knew they had no reason to trust him. His people were doing everything they could to leave their lives in shambles. Most of the battlefield was covered in dust to show proof of that.

The thought of it made him frown. There have been so many losses. At least humans had the capability to gather their bodies to give the warriors a proper send off. The monsters didn’t have the luxury of a count much less the idea of a funeral for those who fell in battle. Their dust would always cover the battlefield.

The human was surprised to see Asgore was wide awake. When Gerson led him into a large tent, the king was looking over a large paper. He looked more grey than white from the human’s position. His large form looked as though it wanted nothing more than to collapse on that table. He might even do so.

Gerson kicked the back of the human’s knees and forced him to the ground as Asgore looked at them. “We’ve got company, Your Highness.” The turtle spoke casually and looked at the large goat. “Avenir said it might have some insight.”

Asgore looked at him. The human expected anger more than pain. Instead, the only thing he saw in the king’s eyes was exhaustion. When Asgore saw the human in front of him, he sucked in a deep breath. “Human, I doubt there is anything you could provide me that would allow my men to trust you.” The king sounded somber, his voice tired as he spoke to the human as if he’s said this a thousand times before.

The human swallowed. This was his only chance. “The other day, I heard a rumor that your scientist was taken from his post and he hasn’t returned. Am I correct?”

Asgore’s eyes narrowed. “Indeed. Did you see him?”

He did see him. The poor skeleton was tied up and tortured. His small stature made him easy prey for many of the humans. And his soft demeanor was one of the first things they tried to smash in. Why he was out on that field was anyone’s guess.

He could remember listening to the sobs and pleas to end his pain. It was his default state. The only times he became aggressive was when they tried to get information out of him and even then it was nothing more than denying them information and maybe a biting comment.

He somehow managed to stay kind despite the horrible things done to him. At one point, one of his torturers cut their hand and he offered to wrap the wound properly. The skeleton had once asked him if he was eating enough then followed it up with a wonderful recipe for some sort of pasta dish. But that was nothing compared to the end. The day he died, he smiled up at them all and simply said, “someday, things will be better for all of us.”

Poor, naive fool.

“Your scientist has passed.” The human said softly as he looked down at the ground. “Instead, I offer you what abilities I can. My science may be able to aid you even if it isn’t-”

“So you’re a traitor?” Gerson barked out a laugh. “Amazing! What’s to say you won’t turn back to them?”

The human didn’t speak for a moment. His mind was on the things his people said. The horrible things they did. The horrible things they were going to do.

“Answer the question.” While his voice stayed soft, Asgore was still able to demand attention.

And the human obeyed. “Humans can be terrible creatures. I think this has gone passed them simply being afraid and gone into something more malicious. I don’t want that. For either of our kinds. So, I come to your aid in hopes that it may give you a leg up in this.”

“Would you be able to betray them like this? Your own people?”

“As far as I’m concerned they aren’t my people.”

Gerson frowned. “Not a human. Not a monster. Then what are you?”

He sat back on his feet and thought about it for a moment. He knew he wouldn’t be a monster. But there was no way he was allowing himself to be lumped into that pack of savages. When he looked up at the two, he was smiling. “I guess I’m just a part of the void in between.” He chuckled despite not thinking it was very funny.

They looked to one another in confusion.

 

-

A few days passed and the human was left to wander around their grounds. Anytime he moved a little too close to the edge of the camp, someone dragged him back. He couldn’t be sure if he was being kept as some sort of strange prisoner or they were afraid he was sneaking off to the human camp to tell them something about the monsters.

Either way, he learned quickly to keep away from wandering too close to the woods. Even though he knew nothing about their weaknesses or the war defenses, his being there was still enough to make them assume he knew too much to let go so easily.

He ran into the skeleton who caught him a few times. She didn’t go out of her way to acknowledge him but he noticed how she reacted with her fellow soldiers. She was calm even when they weren’t. While she did handle many of the conflicts between two parties, it was uncommon to see her get flustered on her own. Her permanent grin seemed a little wider when she was among them.

However, the tension still never left her shoulders.

When she wasn’t wearing her helmet, the long red scarf was freely covering her neck. She hid her mouth behind it whenever she looked at the human. It didn’t do much to hide her looks of suspicion.

And did absolutely nothing to hide her outrage when she walked into the makeshift lab and saw him sitting among the equipment.

“Who said you could be in here?!” Avenir snarled and snapped a piece of paper out of his hands. On it was a childish drawing of a little skeleton family.

The human flinched as she moved closer again. “I thought I might get to know a little about the equipment you use.”

“Why would you even need to know that?!” Her eyes started to glow a deep violet as she held the drawing like it was a child.

“Because I was hoping to help considering the scientist you had here has...” He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Bones came from the ground below and shot him into his hands, legs and shoulders. He could see the blood beginning to trickle down the magic weapons.

Avenir glared. Her eye sockets still shined brightly as tears leaked down her cheeks. “You know about him?!” The bones let go and slammed back into him. “Where is he?!” They stabbed in harder. “DID YOU KILL HIM?!”

The shouting was enough to summon other monsters into the room. Two dogs were able to grab hold of Avenir and break her concentration before she killed the human. A lizard walked in around them and spoke to the human.

He couldn’t understand them. It was all a garbled mess of words. He felt like he somehow hit his head in the process of getting hit by the bones and collapsing to the ground.

His head was swimming.

He barely recalled the movements after but he was apparently laid in a bed. As he slowly came to, he could hear the loud roaring voice of their king. From the sound of it, he was a little far off but he was angry.

It didn’t take much for the human to piece together what was being said. The one on the receiving end of everything must’ve been the skeleton that put him in this state.

He closed his eyes and laid there. What little light that was getting in only served to aggravate the migraine that built.

His memory kept a bit of a fuzzy hold on the look of the scientist’s work station. The equipment was a bit out of date and a few of the machines he couldn’t be sure of their purpose. He knew monsters had much stronger magic capabilities than humans so it may have some sort of link to that.

But there were also a few sentimental things. The child’s drawing being only one of many. Propped up next to a tray of beakers had been a framed photo. He recognized it as a family photo of the two skeletons he knew along with one smaller skeleton with a wide, happy smile on his round little face. In his arms, he kept a tight and protective hold on a small orange bundle. Avenir had one arm wrapped around the older skeleton while her other hand was gently placed on the boy’s shoulder.

They all seemed like a happy little family.

It took the human a moment to realize the screaming had stopped. He opened his eyes as someone burst into the tent. Avenir stood over him with her arms crossed. “It... would seem I owe you an apology.” Her soft voice made it clear this was not an apology she actually meant.

The human said nothing.

“I’m now... stationed to watch over you. As it was my husband who ran the lab last and I spent a majority of my time in there, I’m to... show you the ropes.” She gritted her teeth. Every word from her sounded like it was forced.

He was in no position to complain “.....thank you.”

She marched out of the tent with little consideration to the damages she caused him before all of this. “Come on, Human. We’re wasting time.”

The human had to stumble to his feet in order to keep up with Avenir. She wasn’t any taller than him but her stride was much longer than his own. He had to trot to keep up. Pain tapped on his hands and torso where the bones had hit. Now bandages covered the healing wounds. His brain felt as if it were slamming against the insides of his skull.

As they stepped into the small lab, Avenir looked around. Her eyes landed on the former scientist’s personal items. Anything with his face was gently placed face down. He could see the grim expression in her eyes. “Helvetica would’ve wanted us to move on anyway...” She spoke more to herself than to her companion.

He wanted to comfort her but he knew his attempt would probably lead to being shrugged off. Or maybe even attacked again.

She turned and looked at him. “What’s your name anyway?”

The human thought about this for a moment. He hadn’t really considered giving them his birth name. After the decision to join the monsters’ side, the name seemed to attach itself to the wrong message.

But he hadn’t thought of what he might want them to call him instead.

Avenir stared at him for a moment. As the minutes passed and the silence grew, she sat herself down in a chair and leaned back with her hands folded against the back of her skull. “I’ll just call you Human until I think of something better.”

He couldn’t argue with that.

 

-

As time continued to move forward, the human started to understand more and more about the monster side of the story. Humans often spoke about monster kind hiding in closets and under beds, waiting until everyone was asleep before they would strike like savages. They told tales about how they killed entire families with all their abilities. Their magic causing people to die before they even knew they were in trouble.

When it really came down to it, the fear was typically unwarranted. There was no proof of monsters being so malicious.

The monsters during this war showed no signs of wanting to do anything even remotely close to hurting a human. Aside from Avenir’s initial panic, everyone was surprisingly warm and welcoming to him. They told him stories of their lives. He learned about how the dog couple Dogamy and Dogaressa were hoping to start a family before the war began. He learned about the little girl Gerson had adopted who fought tooth and nail to try and be out their among the warriors on the battlefield. He learned about what it was like living under Asgore’s rule.

It didn’t sound so bad when he really thought about it. Asgore was a kind young king who spoke to his subjects as if he were among friends. Everyone joked about the power really being held by Queen Toriel who didn’t have a place anywhere on the battlefield.

Asgore didn’t really want to hurt anyone. He just wanted his people to continue to live freely.

Aside from her being apart of the Guard, his skeleton companion was left in a mystery. But that was fine. She was still uncomfortable with his presence. Somehow, that in itself was comforting to the human. It showed they were capable of suspicion even if it seemed only Avenir remembered to do so.

Working in the lab told a story of Helvetica that Avenir didn’t seem to want to divulge. He was working on simple weapons that wouldn’t kill a human. He kept everything neat and organized on his tables. Any and all of his research was written down in equally neat handwriting.

Before his capture, Helvetica was trying to figure out a way to harness the determination in a human and nullify it. He was certain that if he would figure out how to do that, he would be able to stop the war simply because the humans would stop caring to fight them.

It was definitely a naive way of looking at human ambition but all the research pointed to the idea being at least somewhat feasible.

Another notebook contained things that were more of a personal nature. He wrote about his family and how much he missed his boys. There were letters in the pages in a childish, almost lazy handwriting. They were short and mostly talked about someone called ‘Pap’ or ‘Papy.’

They were always ended with a small note of how much the sender missed them. When he remembered this was a dead father’s notebook, the human couldn’t help but feel horrible. He should have tried to stop them from killing that skeleton. He shouldn’t have allowed this boy to continue to grow up without his father.

He didn’t dig much deeper than that when it came to the little letters. The human always thought they were a little too personal to do anything but skim through the pages until he stopped seeing the “love sans” at the end.

Toward the end of the notes, that was all it had to offer. The human put the journal off to the side and near Avenir’s sleeping form. They all belonged to her now.

Avenir typically didn’t leave his side. As the days marched on, she kept a close eye on him without ever losing her suspicious gaze. But he did notice she was becoming more relaxed around him. There were a few nights where she would even partake in a drink or two with her fellow warriors. On those nights, she cracked a few jokes that made some eyes roll.

“Aww, c’mon. That one was funny!”

“Your jokes are worse than Gerson’s agility!” A young rabbit monster frowned at the skeleton, her ears falling down against her head. “I think this war is somehow making your material stink even more than ever.”

Avenir shrugged. “Well, it tickled _my_ funny bone. That’s all that matters to me!” She looked back at the rabbit while keeping her arms up in the shrug.

It took her friend a moment before her paw moved up to cover her face. She groaned loudly as Wing Dings allowed a chuckle to slip.

Avenir grinned at him. She brightened almost instantly as she realized he enjoyed her bad jokes. “So, the human does have a sense of humor!”

Countless jokes later, the scientist realized he'd somehow signed a contract in blood to be her audience member for whenever she felt like being a comedian.

After a few weeks passed, Avenir slowly began her nicknaming for the human. She call him things like 'Fleshy' or 'Hugh' or 'Guy who decided monsters were more fun.' Then she finally settled on one. “Hey, Wing Dings. Call it quits for the day.”

He didn’t ask her what it meant. He assumed it was something along the lines of naming him ‘Smith.’ Only skeletons ever seemed to understand skeleton names.

But Wing Dings stuck more than anything else. He actually liked the way it sounded.

“Give me a minute.” He said without looking up from his notes. With his mind and Helvetica’s incomplete formulas, the human was beginning to see what the other scientist had already began to figure out. Determination was something that could be harnessed. It was just a question of how.

And it looked as if there were a couple of notebooks that kept disappearing. It was beyond frustrating.

Avenir wanted to just pick him up and carry him out of the room. But she also knew this science could be important to winning this war so she let him be and just leaned against the desk with her arms crossed. “What are you working on?”

“A way to use human determination against them.” He glanced at the notes again. “At first, I thought he’d lost his mind. But it looked like your husband was on to something.”

“Of course he was. My Helvetica is brilliant. He didn’t make it to be Royal Scientist for nothing, you know!” When she spoke of Helvetica, Wing Dings could see Avenir light up and swell with pride. It often took her a moment before she remembered he wasn’t around anymore.

Then, she would deflate and look away from him.

He never knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. He wanted to tell her that Helvetica didn’t suffer. He wanted to say that he took out many humans before they were able to stop him. Instead, he said the last words.

“Someday, things will be better for all of us.”

Avenir didn’t look at him. He wasn’t even sure she heard him.

After the mumbled words fell from his mouth, he stood up. “That’s enough work for the day.”

Avenir lit up immediately. “About time!” She grabbed hold of Wing Dings and dragged him out of the makeshift lab. A few hours later, Avenir partook in too much of the drink.

Everyone seemed to know when their companions were about to hit their limits. There was a scale of sorts. Avenir’s went from being calm, to telling horrible jokes, to occasionally attempting to start fights to 'see how strong everyone has become.'

Tonight she did something Wing Dings had never seen. She talked and boasted about her children.

“-at first, he didn’t want to hold him. He wouldn’t even come near him!” Avenir leaned against the human as she stared off into the memory with a soft smile. “I thought maybe he was jealous. After all, when I was little I tried to kill my sister with a blue bone attack. I mean, it’s normal for an older sibling to be afraid the new baby will take away from them, right?”

The human didn’t know. He was an only child.

“But not my Sansy. He... he was just so afraid he would hurt Papyrus. But when I showed him how to hold a baby, he held him for the rest of the night.” Avenir sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t think he even slept that night.” She glanced at him. “If you knew Sans, you’d know that’s a big deal. The kid loves his sleep.”

“But he loves Papyrus even more.” Gerson mumbled under his breath. Clearly, he’s heard this one before.

Avenir pointed at the turtle. “Exactly.”

“Let’s hope both of them take more from their father than they do their mother.”

For a moment, Avenir just stared at Gerson blankly. In that time, Wing Dings feared maybe this would end in a fight. But then she blinked. “Gerson... you have to stop reading my mind like this.”

The turtle smirked at her. “You can’t tell me what to do, Bonehead.”

She laughed loudly. “I can try, my shelled little friend. Maybe you’d be more willing to listen when I have a bone at your throat.”

“Why, Avenir, Are you threatening me or trying to seduce me?”

Asgore cleared his throat loudly as he walked by the group. “A momentary change of subject, I am quite curious.” He looked at Wing Dings. “I have encountered a few humans with magical abilities in battle. Is this something you can do as well?”

Wing Dings blinked and nodded. “Yes. It’s not as strong as the magic you monsters have, but I do have a few techniques. And some humans have capabilities that are far beyond mine.”

Everyone stared at him as he spoke. Avenir was the one who spoke up. “All I heard was ‘yes, I can use magic.’ Wing Dings, have you been holding out on us?”

“No, not at all.”

“I want to see what you got.” She grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled him to stand as they walked quickly to a cleared out part of the camp used for training.

The human fought her each step of the way. “I don’t think this is safe.”

She huffed. “Please. I’m the Royal Guard. My control drunk is better than anyone else’s sober.” She let go of him and stepped back a few paces. With her eyes glowing, she summoned her blade in one hand and a few bones hovered around her other. “Get ready!”

He didn’t want to get ready.

As Avenir moved closer and tried to drive her sword into his shoulder, Wing Dings side stepped and allowed the blade to move right passed him. She tried again only to end with the same result.

So far in the war, all he did was evade attacks. He wasn’t one meant for battle. The only time he worked his way out to the field was to try and learn weaknesses that could then be reported back to his people. And as he jumped away from another sword swing and nearly lost his leg to a bone shooting from the ground he realized how dumb it was to allow himself so little practice.

Now he was fighting one of the strongest monsters without so much as a piece of armor.

Everyone else just stood by and watched closely. With each dodge, the human seemed to grow more and more frustrated. It wouldn’t be long until he tapped into the magic of his claim.

“Come on. You can’t evade me forever!” She flicked the wrist of her free hand and sent out an array of bones both blue and white.

Wing Dings dodged what he could, but a few managed to get in a hit on him. He was reminded of the attacks from when Avenir caught him in the lab.

He tapped into his small well of magic. It took a bit to reach. He was completely out of practice and even then it wasn’t even a _lot_ of practice. But he had no choice. Sadly, he really only had one move.

A small white dragon head appeared out of thin air. It was no bigger than his hand but he knew it would be more than enough to show them what they wanted.

Avenir stopped in her tracks, eye sockets opening wide as the little thing’s mouth lit up with a charge and shot out a beam of white hot light directly at her face. She just barely dodged, feeling the heat of the blast right by her ear hole.

The small crowd that gathered managed to get out of the way. The worst casualty was a nearby tree that now had a charred hole right in the middle of its trunk. Beyond that, it burned through more leaves and branches of other trees before hitting the earth of a mountain’s base.

All of the monsters looked at the damage then turned slowly to Wing Dings. The human collapsed to his knees as the little dragon head disappeared into the nothing from whence it came.

Avenir blinked a few times before her eye sockets lit up brightly. “Do it again!” She practically squealed as she clapped happily.

Wing Dings blinked while everyone else let out loud groans of exasperation.

 

-

“Come on. Show me again!”

“No.”

“We can practice together. I can help make it so you won’t tire out so quickly.”

“No.”

“What if I teach you some of my techniques? Maybe you can learn about bone magic since there’s a skeleton under all that swishy fat and-”

“No.”

“....you’re not even listening anymo-”

“No.”

Avenir looked at Wing Dings flatly. A week passed since he showed what he could do with his limited source of magic. And by the power coming from that blaster, who knew what a monster could do with it.

It wasn’t something the human felt too concerned about. However, that act alone nearly completely exhausted the magic in him. If he were to try it again, the dragon wouldn’t make its appearance much less show the skeleton its ability.

But he didn’t want Avenir to know that. He didn’t trust that she would leave him be. She would either use that as a way to kill him later or try to train him to use his magic and end up killing him accidentally.

Either way, he saw a death in his future.

He glanced over at the skeleton soldier. She wasn’t looking at him anymore and instead was staring off and gently rocking herself on the two back legs of her chair with her own legs up on one of the tables. She kept her arms crossed over her armor, the black metal showing a few signs of wear in the joints. Her helmet was on the desk, just as battle worn as the rest of it. The teeth of the helmet were jagged and it looked to be glaring at anyone in the room.

Although the helmet looked quite intimidating, it was the red scarf that stood out against the armor. Along with Avenir’s complexion (or lack thereof) it was the only bit of color on her. Even when she wasn’t in armor, she didn’t wear much color aside from that piece of cloth.

“You’re staring at me.”

He blinked and looked up to see Avenir’s eye sockets boring into his eyes. Despite her physical incapability, Wing Dings could tell she was frowning at him. She didn’t like being studied, he knew that much.

He pointed at the scarf. “Is that apart of the Royal Armor?”

She reached up and touched the fabric as she looked at him with a bit of confusion. For a moment, she must have forgot she was wearing it. She looked down at it and picked off an imaginary piece of lint. “No, it’s mine. I thought it added a little something to the look. Red like blood, right?” She glanced at one of the photos still laying face down. “Helvetica once read somewhere that certain colors had effects on a human psyche. Red is considered intimidating while blue is more calming.”

Wing Dings nodded. “It is based on some sound evidence.” He remembered hearing something similar.

Avenir seemed satisfied with his response. “....he liked blue. I thought I'd wear red then.”

They fell into a silence Wing Dings could only describe as tolerable. They’ve been around one another enough to know where each line was drawn but he couldn’t say either of them actually trusted one another. He still worried that humans would figure out a way into their defenses and Avenir would immediately turn her fiery gaze on him in blame. And her head was always quick to snap around if he made a movement that was a little too sudden or too close to her.

The sound of commotion outside of the tent caused both of them to turn and look out the exit.

“Keep talking, kid! Let me know you didn’t suffer brain damage.” Gerson was barely able to hide the panic in his voice. And if Wing Dings could hear it, surely Avenir knew what he was thinking.

She jumped out of her chair, knocking it to the floor in the process. Without giving it a second glance, she strode to the door.

The human wasn’t far behind.

On the ground outside, Gerson had laid down a monster made completely out of fire. Wing Dings had seen him before as he spent a lot of time working as their cook. He was a young monster of few words which did nothing for Gerson’s demand.

“Player...” His fire form flickered like a dying candle. “Player....”

“Yeah, tell me about the player!” It was clear the turtle wasn’t listening. He was just happy his comrade was still speaking. Gerson turned as Avenir trotted in. “We need someone with high healing abilities. Now.”

“What happened?”

“Someone stole the Queen’s pie. What the Hell do you think happened?! We were attacked! Grillby could die! Get Asgore and Delta now!”

Avenir immediately jumped to action and sprinted to find their king.

Wing Dings didn’t follow. He walked over and knelt down by the dying light of the fire. “You saw the Player?”

Gerson was ready to snap at the human to get away but then the younger monster nodded. The turtle frowned. “What’s the ‘Player?’”

“They know.” Grillby stared up at the sky. “The children. The queen.”

Wing Ding’s heart sank into his stomach.

Gerson didn’t notice. “Impossible! There’s no way the humans could...” The fire flickered again and Gerson was cut off by his concern for Grillby’s life. “Don’t worry, kid. We’ll figure this out.”

It didn’t take long for Asgore to arrive with the lizard monster Wing Dings only ever caught a glance of. He assumed they were Delta.

Gerson and Wing Dings stepped out of the way and stood near Avenir as Delta and Asgore worked on Grillby. The three of them didn’t speak as they looked over the damage.

An hour later, they all moved Grillby to Delta’s tent where he could be healed and recuperate in peace. With nothing more to do for him, the three were ushered out with the promise of being updated if the conditions changed.

Gerson swallowed thickly. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see the skeleton’s reaction to this. “We may have a problem.”

“You mean aside from this?” she gestured to Grillby.

Gerson just continued. “The humans may have found Toriel.”

Avenir tensed. “Which means...”

“...All the kids too.” Gerson frowned. “We... might be looking at a full on hostage situation.”

Avenir’s eye sockets lit up violet as they narrowed. “But how did they find it so fast? The trek alone could take days for a human. And that’s saying they knew where they were going!”

Both set of monster eyes turned to their human friend.

Wing Dings looked between them. “Hey, I don’t know where they’re hidden. How the Hell could I tell them??” It was something no one spoke about. Sure, there were mentions of the queen and children that he could only assume were inside. But there was nothing more than that.

Gerson narrowed his eyes at Wing Dings. “You heard Grillby mention the Player. Seems like you knew what he was talking about.”

He clenched his jaw and nodded. “Yes. I know.”

“Then how about you start explaining.” Avenir’s eyes glowed brighter. The prospect of the remains of her family being in danger were easily putting her on edge. And if Wing Dings had information and decided to withhold it, she wouldn’t hesitate to stab him.

The human brought his hands up. “It's similar to your king and queen. While monsters have Boss Monsters, humans have what is referred to as the Player.”

Gerson sneered. “So, you thought up a stupid name for your champion fighter? Is that it?”

“Like the Boss Monster, a Player Human comes with some advantages.” Wing Dings said as he did his best to ignore the turtle. “They all believe to carry the same soul as they tend to remember lives that happened long ago or may exist in the future. They have the ability to reset everything at will. And their exceedingly high level of determination allows them to reawaken a healthy form even after they’ve clearly died. This war we are fighting is only in place because of the Player's will.”

Avenir still glared at him but the glow of her eyes dimmed just a little. “But they still have to obey certain laws, right? They can’t just gain information without a source.”

Wing Dings nodded.

Gerson crossed his arms. “So, there must have been some leak of information. A traitor or-”

“-or tiny abomination with teleporting abilities.”

The three turned to see a young human standing only a few strides away. By looking at them, they couldn’t be much older than twenty; not that it mattered in this war. They had long brown hair that was coated in a light layer of dust. There was no armor and only a knife in their hand as any show of a weapon.

Despite that, there was a happy smile on their face. It widened when the group turned to them.

With their free hand, they pointed at Avenir. “If I had to guess, I’d say it’s your spawn. Not many other skeletons in the area anymore.”

The bone sword appeared in Avenir’s hand.

The young human continued. “It ain’t all bad though. The thing was a bitch to catch, but all it took was a bit of waiting it out. Monsters do eventually get tired, after all. An amazing little runt too. It’s got such pretty blue eyes when it’s scared.” They folded their hands behind their back. “Pretty rare in skeletons, right? Yeah, People might pay for something like that. It seems you can’t just pull them out of their sockets though. Fragile little guy...”

A flare of purple was all Wing Dings saw before Avenir charged. He opened his mouth to try and stop her but it was too late.

The human already had her on the ground. “Oh, relax. It’s not like I killed it.” The smile widened. “Honestly. You look at me as if I’m the bad guy!”

“What do you want with him?!” Avenir jumped to her feet and tensed as if she were going to strike again.

“Well, if he were dead, this would be much less effective.” The smile widened to a nearly impossible level. “If you care at all for him or the rest of them hiding in that cute little alcove by the beach, you’ll come find me, lay down your weapons at my door and just take what’s inevitably coming.”

“And what if we refuse?”

The Player turned, their smile fading and growing again as the eyes landed on Wing Dings. “Doctor! So this is where you went!” They laughed. “I never pegged the Great Doctor Gaster to be a traitor to his people.”

Wing Dings ignored it as his eyes fixed on their guest. “It doesn’t have to end this way.”

Their face turned to a neutral expression. After a moment, they nodded. “You’re right. It doesn’t.” Then, the smile was back, wider and more demonic. “But this is so much more fun than the touchy feely ending!”

The bone sword sliced through the Player’s body like it was butter. The body collapsed in a two part heap. The smile didn’t leave the Player’s face.

“Gerson, take care of the body.” Avenir spoke with all the authority given to her as Head of the Royal Guard. “I’ll tell Asgore we need to up the defenses.”

Wing Dings tore his eyes away from the body as Avenir strolled away. “What about the hide out?”

“They bluffed and got it wrong. The Queen and children are safe in the caverns of Mount Ebott. I don’t know where they would have gotten the idea of a beach.”

“And... what about... the child?” There was no way they guessed that, not only did Avenir have a son, but a son with teleport abilities and blue eyes.

And it only took a look at the skeleton for Wing Dings to realize what was going through her mind. The amount of fire in her eye sockets would be enough to allow Grillby to live forever and still have enough left over to set fire to all of humanity. For the sake of everyone, he hoped they somehow bluffed and got it correct.

She didn’t say anything as she walked into the tent where the kind still stood with Delta and Grillby. “Asgore, We’ve had a breech.”

Asgore turned to his guard. “Oh my. Is everyone alright?”

“There’s one dead human. And possibly a kidnapping.”

Asgore watched as he waited for Avenir to follow up with the punchline. When she didn’t, he tested. “Perhaps he’ll wake up soon?”

Avenir tightened her hands into fists. They both knew that was her cue to let out a chuckle.

She didn’t.

And with that silence, the king knew. “... Oh.”

“I’m going to go find out for sure. Wing Dings will be coming with me.” She looked at him with a glare. “Since he knows his way around the camp.”

He was suddenly under the impression that he had no choice in the matter.

Asgore asked nothing more. He simply nodded and looked between the two. “Please. Both of you. Return safely.”

She turned on a dime and took long strides out of the tent. Wing Dings had to trot to keep up. And, as they got away from the camp, she only got faster.

Maybe teleporting was hereditary.

“Where does this Player like to call home? I’d like to have a nice talk with them face to face.” Avenir was seething as she spoke in a poorly contained rage.

Wing Dings couldn’t blame her. This was how far the human race had gone. A child. Be it human or monster, he was still a kid and had no place being threatened in this way.

He only knew the boy through stories but he could still hope that he would survive this.

 

-

 

The humans took up shelters in nearby buildings, some set up to be like a home away from home. The human side was in much better shape than the monsters; if they wanted to, they could overpower and kill each and every one with little effort. But everyone still feared a monster’s magic.

At least, that’s why he thought they were still alive. He’s never spoken to the one truly behind everything.

Wing Dings stopped in front of a massive church that sat at the very edge of the small town. The glass reflected gold as the setting sun’s rays caught the building at just the right angle. Before the war broke out, it was used as a type of haven for monsters in this city. He never did ask about it but it didn’t matter anymore. It belonged to the humans now.

Without even stepping in, he could feel a growing urge to run far away from this place. He swallowed. “I think they’re home.” On shaky legs, he stepped forward and pushed open the massive red doors.

The church was void of pews and was lit only by the sun. It gave the building an almost romantic feel to it.

Avenir readied her magic. The sword appeared in her hand as Wing Dings took the first few steps into the building. It was silent, leaving nothing but the echoes of his footsteps.

Then four glowing bones shot out from no where and flew to hit him. He just barely managed to get out of the way. He watched them stab into the ground inches from his feet before glaring back at Avenir accusingly.

She looked just as confused as him.

“stay back!” A very young voice called out from one of the pillars. Wing Dings could make out the shadow of a child with a round, bald head. A moment later, one eye lit up a glowing blue. He knew without having to approach this was their kidnapped boy.

And, despite his brave front, they could both tell he was very scared.

“Sans...?” Avenir lifted her helmet to get a better look.

Hearing the voice of his mother seemed to startle the little skeleton. The glow faded and he walked forward. He couldn’t be much older than the photo on Helvetica’s desk, maybe only a year or two. He was barefoot in a ripped white shirt that was much too big for him. It ended around his knees and brushed against the edge of a pair of black shorts. There was red splatter on his clothing and face that Wing Dings hoped was only ketchup, if only for the boy’s sake.

But then they both saw his right eye socket. It was jagged and cracked in a way that could only be horribly painful at best. Pieces were chipped away from cracks wrapping around the poor little guy’s skull. Wing Dings doubted normal healing magic would be able to fix the damage done to him.

The frozen smile on his face did little to hide what he was feeling. He padded one shaky step into another. “m-mom...”

Avenir dropped to her knees and pulled her son into her arms. Right now she didn’t care about the socket. They would pay dearly for the damage to her boy. What mattered now was Sans was still alive.

Sans didn’t react for a moment as he was hugged. But then Wing Dings could see the fear and pain finally register and he gripped Avenir tightly. He buried his face in her armor as he shook in soft sobs. For the most part, the sobbing and a few soft ‘i’m sorry’s were the only sound in the hall.

“Shhhh, it's okay. I'm here...”

Then Wing Dings caught a shadow out of the corner of his eye. “Avenir....”

She saw it too. Her eyes stayed fixed on it while holding Sans close. She followed it as she spoke. “Sans, can you still use your ‘shortcuts’?”

He looked up at her and carefully rubbed his eye sockets. “yeah... i think so...”

“I need you to go back to Papy. He needs you to protect him.”

He pulled back to look at his mother’s face a little more fully. “...not unless you’re coming too.”

“Sans, Listen.” She gently grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eye. “We both have our duties.”

“but...”

“And yours is to protect Papyrus.”

“that should be your duty too!”

“It will be...” She tried to keep calm and collected as the shadow’s caster became more and more obvious.

“not if you keep doing this. mom, you’ll die here! i saw it!”

“Sans!”

Her sudden snap made his eye sockets widen.

Hers softened at the expression. “I promise you this is one dream that won’t come true, okay?” She smiled at him. “How about when I see you again, I tell you two short jokes and a long one?”

Sans just stared at her for a moment. He wasn’t convinced. “promise?”

“I swear on Grandpa’s dust.” She pressed her teeth to his forehead in a small kiss before standing back up. “Now go and read Papy his bedtime story.”

Sans hesitated for a moment as he looked between his mother and Wing Dings. Whether the boy saw the shadows or not, he would never be able to tell. But not another word was spoken as he seemed to blip out of existence.

As soon as the space once occupying Sans was vacant, Avenir’s expression hardened again. “You truly are a sick freak. I don’t know if I could even call you human!”

The walls echoed a chuckle. “Aww, you flatter me, Skelemomma.” They stepped out from near a pillar and smiled. “Unfortunately, I’m as human as your comrade here.” They gestured to Wing Dings then stopped to give him an appraising look. “Although, I think Doctor Gaster is hoping there’s some sort of recruitment for humans to become monsters.”

Wing Dings didn’t say anything.

Player snorted before looking back at Avenir. “But I think what you did was worse than anything I could do to your baby bones.” They crossed their arms and slowly walked closer. “I didn’t tell him such a bold faced lie. What’s he going to do when I’m the one who goes to pick him up from that hiding spot? Where was that again?” They tapped their chin. “.... Mount Ebott, was it?”

Avenir tensed, eye socket opening wide enough to see the white pupils they usually hid. “H-how....?”

The Player laughed. “Just one of the nifty tricks you get when you’re me! Wanna see another one?” They charged, moving faster than anyone Avenir had ever fought.

She was just barely able to block their knife from slicing through her neck. With a glare, she pushed back and aimed her sword for the human’s midsection. And from there, the two fenced. Knife collided with the sharp magic bone as they tried their best to get through to the monster on the other side.

Each swing from the Player was harder than the last. Avenir tried her hardest to throw them off with more bone projectiles as distractions. Some of them hit her target but they didn’t seem fazed. Their smile never faded as the two of them fought. Even when bones stabbed into their shoulders and chest, they still continued on.

Avenir could feel her control slipping with each attack. She was getting tired. Most of her attacks were avoided as if they’d seen it a million times before. The few that landed only managed to graze them before the Player corrected themselves.

It wasn’t long before they had her completely on the defense. She didn’t like where this was heading.

The knife connected with her skull and left behind an indent as it shaved away part of her bone. The Player looked delighted when she let out a cry of surprise and pain.

There was the sound of something charging and a white blast slammed into the Player’s back. They grunted and turned to glare at Wing Dings. “When did you decide to grow a backbone?!” They took two steps away from Avenir. “You think it’s cute to just leave? Did you think I would forget about you and your betrayal to your race?”

“H-hey... one fight at a time... you bast..ard...”

The Player stopped walking and turned to see Avenir pulling herself up to her feet. She gripped the bone sword in two hands and glared at the human as she huffed in a few panting breaths. Her skull was lined with sweat that dripped down passed her eye sockets.

The Player’s smile was gone now as they stared at Avenir. “You’re kidding, right?”

Avenir just glared.

“You really don’t know, do you?” They said more than asked with a surprised look on their face. When she didn’t respond, they sighed and gave a shrug. “Well, I guess that makes it my responsibly to show you how dumb you are for keeping this up.” They walked closer. “You see, being who I am gives me a few little things. Mostly cheap parlor tricks at this point. But I think it might be useful for you.”

Avenir stood her ground as the knife clattered to the floor. The human was suddenly in her face.

The demonic smile was back. “You see, I know the future. I know what happens in the sequel. And, quick little spoiler,” their hands moved up so quickly Avenir had no time to react, “you’re not in it!”

Thumbs stabbed into her eye sockets and for a quick burst, Avenir felt nothing but searing pain. Without even feeling her mouth open, the skeleton let out a cry of pure agony. The pain felt as if it would last for eons. She felt like she might die. For a moment, she wished she would.

Then, it slowly began to dull and she was feeling confident enough to open her sockets again. She wasn’t in the church anymore. She was blinded by a white light that slowly began to fade.

She could see snow but couldn’t feel its cold. A strange sight since last she was outside, it was summer. Looking up, she could see there were no stars; just tree tops and the ceiling of a massive cavern.

She jerked and turned around when she heard the sound of a door open behind her. Slowly, a human a little younger than their current opponent walked through. They looked around as they walked. Closer to her.

Then directly through her.

She turned to follow the human with her eyes when she noticed something moving up in the trees. As the human paused in front of a large branch, it stood up straight on one of the branches in the tree. And when the human walked on, it jumped out and landed on that large branch.

The resulting snap echoed off the walls of the cavern. Avenir only caught a glance of a blue hoodie and what looked to be the back of a round, white skull before the form teleported away. “Sans?”

She didn’t get to stay around to find out. Avenir blinked and a moment later, she had her answer as well as the answer to a question she hadn’t yet thought of.

As the human stood in front of two skeletons, Avenir was faced with a male skeleton who looked a lot like her and wore a slightly weathered version of her red scarf around his neck. He was happier than her, delighted in the simple pleasure of seeing a human. He spoke with a grand flamboyancy that she couldn’t help but smile. The young skeleton had an air about him that made her want to protect him forever. But perhaps it was more motherly instinct than anything.

This was good. Her boys were okay. Both Sans and Papyrus were alive and well. Even if she didn’t make it out of this, at least she knew they would live on despite it.

She found that she wasn’t brought further into the future so she took the time to observe the situation. Papyrus spoke of being able to join the Royal Guard and there were a few mentions of Gerson’s girl in his ranting.

Avenir couldn’t say she was surprised. No doubt Undyne would have fought her for the position as soon as she was old enough to train for it. In a different time, Undyne would eventually win the position over an old skeleton and run the Guard with a steely determination rarely seen in any monster.

Spending the twenty minutes following Papyrus around, Avenir could tell he’d grown too kind and innocent to have any place in the Guard as she knew it. The image of Papyrus in her armor and attacking with the intent to kill just didn’t register properly. Their new home kept him sheltered and innocent. She hoped there would never be a time where he was forced to change that mindset.

Her eyes fell on Sans. She was pleased to see his socket did heal without even the indication it was ever broken in the first place. But that was one of the few pleasing feelings she got by looking at him.

Sans was alive and in one piece, yes. But he was exhausted. Depression weighted heavy on his shoulders that spoke of more than simply losing his parents in a war. Despite the frozen smile, his face held the expression of a monster who’d seen too many things in his lifetime. If Papyrus was anything to go on, the two of them were still pretty young; possibly early to mid- twenties. But Sans looked as though he was ancient. It was possible that he would collapse any minute and be happy to turn to dust.

But with Sans like this, how did they get so far? How did they survive all this time?

She watched the brothers interact and remembered the last thing she told her son. In that moment, she made Papyrus his responsibility. And from the nagging voice of the taller skeleton, Avenir could see it was all returned in kind. It made a more sense then; they took care of each other.

“It would be a shame if someone messed that up.” The voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

She then realized the human in their world was looking at her. Their neutral expression changed with a flash and Avenir felt herself jump back. For a moment, she saw the demonic smile of the Player.

And then she knew. With a sick, cold feeling in her bones she screamed out. “Don’t you dare!” She lunged after the creature.

Suddenly the area around them changed. She was there, standing right behind the human and watching her youngest son shakily open his arms and smile. “Papyrus, run!” She knew he wouldn’t hear her. Even if he had, would he know the voice?

Either way, she was given no reaction. For her attempt, she was rewarded by the sound of metal on bone and watching his head be separated from his body.

“WELL.... THAT’S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED...”

She covered her mouth as tears fell. “Papy...” His body was carried away by a wind she couldn’t feel, leaving only his head behind.

“ST-STILL... I BELIEVE.... YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER.... EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK SO! I... I PROMISE...” With that, his head disappeared as well leaving her alone with the creature who killed him.

The human stood there for a moment, as if they themselves couldn’t believe what they’ve done. But then, there was a movement. As if two bodies overlapped, the young child continued to walk on while leaving a copy of themselves behind.

The copy turned and looked at her with a smile and a tilt of the head. “One down, Skelemomma.” They walked closer, arms folded behind their back. “See? Not only are you not here to see your sons grow up but you can’t do anything to stop them from being slaughtered either.”

“You’re heartless. He did nothing wrong!” If they were willing to kill someone who spent their last breath trying to help turn them around, what hope did anyone have?

The Player chuckled. “You’re right. In fact, I could say with complete confidence that he wouldn’t ever hurt a soul even if I spared him.”

“Then why?! Why can’t you leave them be?!” Avenir wanted to rip the creature apart but still found that she couldn’t touch them.

They shrugged. “Killing him is the only way to get the complete set.” They smiled lightly as the eyes focused on something behind her.

Avenir turned to see Sans. His eye sockets were completely black as he stepped closer. Despite the disappearance of the dust and any indication of Papyrus even being here, his sagged shoulders and downcast gaze told her all she needed to know.

Sans knew Papyrus died here. Whether it was instinct or he saw it himself, he knew. And the feeling of maddening guilt and rage washed over him so thickly that Avenir couldn’t help but fear for anyone crossing his path.

He said nothing as he dropped to his knees. For a while, he stared at a few small indents in the snow without any indication of moving.

“i’m sorry, pap...” Sans voice cut through the air, strangely soft and steady. “you deserve better than this.”

The Player nearly squealed as the skeleton put on his hood and teleported away. There was no attempt to hide the grin as they hopped in place and clapped. They looked positively giddy. “Ohhh, yay! I’ll be honest. I’ve waited a long time for this one!”

“You’re sick.”

The human laughed. “Yeah. Maybe. Hey, wanna see me kill your oldest now? Only seems fair, right?” She wasn’t truly given an option. Before she could protest, Avenir was standing in a room strikingly similar to the church where they found her Sans.

Little Sans. Safe Sans. A happier Sans.

Now, he stood at the end of the hall with his hands in his pockets. The calm that fell over him was unnerving. It wasn’t typical; Sans had lost all feeling. He spoke to the human. He asked them if a person could change. He questioned them.

He warned them not to step closer. For a moment, Avenir feared he would see the same end as his brother.

The human twitched then took another step. Sans closed his eyes and shrugged. “welp. sorry, old lady. this is why i never make promises.”

Avenir clenched her jaw tight at the bitter statement that her son uttered. A wave of guilt overwhelmed her. She left them alone. She knew she lied to Sans. She wouldn’t be going home to them. But, before this, she thought it was for the best. She would kill this abomination and save them all with her last breath.

It seemed they were doomed either way. And there was nothing she could do from here.

“Sans,” she whispered to him even though she knew he wouldn’t hear her, “I-I should have been there. I shouldn’t have left you alone....”

The emotions ripped through her like a knife across her bones. He didn’t hear her. She knew he wouldn’t. Instead, she watched as he grabbed hold of the human’s soul and threw them into the ground. Bones shot up and scrapped against them but did little damage from there. More bone magic was thrown at them; they did what they could to avoid it. It was clear the human had at least a small idea of the fight to come.

Then Avenir froze as four dragon-like skulls appeared out of thin air. They were huge; big enough for Sans to stand on if he ever felt the need. And they only kept growing as they disappeared and reappeared.

She knew that ability. She’s seen it before. But how did _Sans_ know it? It wasn’t something she could see him ever picking up on his own and she knew for a fact there was no monster who learned the ability. Not in the short time they’ve known the human scientist. It didn’t make sense! Unless...

Unless he had some effect on the skeleton.

With the realization, the world froze. The blasters stopped mid-shot and Sans kept his hand straight out, one eye glowing as he prepared another attack.

The human wasn’t smiling anymore as they narrowly avoided the giant blast. They didn’t seem to realize they were frozen. There wasn’t even so much as a twitch from them.

Then she saw a figure slowly appear out of a dark tear in the world. It wore black and had a toothless smile on its stark white face. She could easily tell it was a skeleton with two large cracks on either eye; one leading down to its mouth and the other wrapping around the top of the skull.

It stared at her. Its hands moved and signed. _“Hello, Avenir.”_

She regarded it warily but said nothing in return.

The smile faded a little as the ghostly skeleton signed again. _“I know you do not recognize me in this form. Much had happened since your death to the Player. Or, as I would later put it, the ‘Anomaly.’”_ It looked at her flatly. _“For one, I learned the meaning behind your nickname for me.”_

And then it hit her. “Wing Dings?”

The form nodded and the smile returned. _“It is nice to see you again, Old Friend.”_

“Why? _How_??”

He shook his head. _“My fate is unimportant. All that needs to be known is the fate of your sons. And the fate of our kind.”_

Avenir snorted. “So, you’ve adopted yourself as more monster?”

He gestured to his form mutely. Then to the blasters Sans used.

“Point taken.” She crossed her arms. “Back to your... pretty flawed statement. I’d like to point out that he,” she pointed to her frozen son, “is one of the few still alive and possibly the last line of defense. I think I have a good idea of the fate that falls on everyone.”

Wing Dings stared at her a moment before signing again. _“The Player failed to inform you of a few minor details.”_

She could faintly hear the sound of light beeping before the world seemed to spin around her. Soon, she was seeing countless different realities. They came in quick flashes; her oldest living with the queen while Undyne ruled their world, her youngest wearing Asgore’s crown, a small white dog simply walking into her field of vision, a flamboyant robot preforming while her son’s watched in the background, a giant plant monster, a boss monster who was undoubtedly related to the king and queen....

Then, the worlds slowed and Wing Dings reached out for one in particular. The young boss monster came into main focus before even he faded into the light.

_“This is far from the only choice.”_

Avenir found herself on the top of Mount Ebott during sunset. She could faintly hear the sound of voices, one loudly announcing that someone named Frisk would be a great Monster Ambassador. He then decided he would become the Mascot and would go off to make a good first impression.

“welp, someone has to keep him from getting in trouble. see ya.” Footsteps started to get closer to them as another loud voice called out for Papyrus to wait for her.

Sans appeared not even a minute later and walked passed Avenir and Wing Dings. The sun was on his back as he stopped walking. He turned back and for a moment Avenir thought he was taking another look at the sunset. It’s probably been a long time since he’s seen it, after all.

But he wasn’t. He focused directly on her. “took him long enough. but i guess even gaster isn't capable of miracles.” He turned and faced her completely. “still, nice to see a familiar old face.”

Avenir’s breath hitched. “S-Sans?”

“hey, mom...”

She wanted to say she was happy. But knowing all the things her son must have experienced in her absence kept it from being true. She couldn’t be sure if this was a dream state constructed by The Player and Wing Dings. She wasn’t sure she could afford to risk it otherwise. “Sans.... I’m so sorry. You were right to be afraid. I should have listened.”

“eh, that was forever ago by my time. i’m over it.” He said with a shrug. “we got our ‘happy ending’ this time around. maybe you never coming home contributed to it. i dunno....” His words weren’t as convincing as he may have wished. It just served to make Avenir’s soul tighten.

She could feel tears build in her eyes sockets. “You did so well, Sans. For what it’s worth, I’m so proud of the man you became.”

Sans looked down. “heh. thanks.” He looked back up at her. “good seeing you, mom. i’ll tell pap you say ‘hi.’”

She wanted to ask so many questions. She wanted to know about Papyrus and everything. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him. She wanted to make up for everything she missed.

She wanted to hug him.

But as she reached out, the world faded around her into a black void similar to the one where the former human brought her. She looked for Wing Dings and found he was no where in sight.

It took her a moment before she realized she was waking up, back in the church with the Player and the human she knew today. There was a lot of information in those dreams, real or fake. It didn’t matter. Now, she knew what she had to do.

 

-

 

For a long time, Wing Dings knew about the Player and their capabilities. It was something everyone knew to an extent. But being a man of science led him to try and figure out why and how this person existed. Magic of their level existed in no other.

For a long time, he thought he was getting close to an answer. His blasters were invented in his attempt to discover how magic within humans could be harnessed. But he knew he was still missing something; the amount of determination also came into play. But how?

For a long time, Gaster thought he had it all correct. He preformed tests on human blood. He did mad science on monsters he would never be proud of. He thought it would help the humans win the war.

He ran away when he knew the humans didn’t need his help. He left when he discovered this wasn’t a war; it was genocide.

Something in his brain fought an echo of thoughts as he remembered his past with the humans. For a long time, he thought he was fighting for the right cause. For a long time, he thought the ends would justify the means. For a long time, he ignored the screams of pain and the pleas for help that came from the cages and cells within his beautiful lab. For a long time, he thought he could become cold to the screams. For a long time, he thought the slur ‘monster’ was correct.

Now, he’d jump at the chance to be a monster if it saved him from becoming even remotely akin to the Player.

He didn’t know what was going on around him anymore. The world seemed to shutter and fall apart only to be stitched back together with pieces of his insides. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t see the Player. He couldn’t do anything but scream just like those terrified monsters in his cages.

“I was able to look over your notes, you know.” The Player spoke near his ear. “You really are a brilliant man.”

Something tore at him. He felt like he was burning. Something snapped in his head. He wondered if that’s what Avenir’s son felt.

“Your research. It’s unparalleled. Everyone tried to recreate what you’ve discovered. No one has had any luck.”

Compliments meant nothing now. He felt as if he were in a void. He wasn’t here. He wasn’t anywhere.

“Gaster. You’ve wasted your talent on these silly little games.”

Something moved inside him and it took a moment to discover that it was in his veins. What little magic he had within him was beginning to increase and fight the invading force. It burned as it flowed through him.

He screamed again. His throat felt like it would burst from overuse.

“Now, you will die.” They spoke over his screaming. “You’ll die and be nothing more than a series of unfinished notes. But let’s be honest, I’ll probably enjoy killing you so much that I’ll return to my save point only to come back here and kill you again.”

His bones rattled within his body. They felt as if they were working their hardest to rebel. He imagined they would tear loose and leave his flesh and skin as nothing but tattered pieces hanging off his skeleton. His hand found his attacker’s wrist. His senses were dulled.

His eyes felt strange. His whole body felt strange.

He willed a blaster to appear. The sound was louder and the blast bigger. It was enough to push the Player out of the way and force them to let go. Wing Dings collapsed to the floor of the church. Part of him wanted to lay there and just accept death. Anything to escape this pain. But something within him refused.

He remembered why he was here.

GASTER

HP: 1/50

He looked at the Player. Numbers passed over his eyes and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake them off. Something was wrong. The Player had warped this world and sucked him into something different.

The numbers stood proud above their head. The name wasn’t coming in clearly. A series of letters moved in a incomprehensible mess.

ASTSDFG

HP: 20/99

The Player huffed, holding their burnt arm before letting out a laugh. “See? Brilliant, Dr. Gaster! I never would have seen that-”

A bone sword stabbed into the Player’s torso.

Blood came from his mouth but the smile still remained. “-coming...”

HFDFGIB

HP: 1/99

Avenir pulled her sword out of their opponent and trotted over to Wing Dings. She knelt next to him and looked over him with concern. “You don’t look.... well you’re alive at least.” She reached into her armor and pulled out a pie. “Here.”

Wing Dings was too busy staring at her.

AVENIR

HP: 3/35

“Is... this all the food you have?”

“Yeah.”

“No... You should ta-.” The pastry was shoved into his open mouth.

“Eat it, Wing Dings. You’re life is actually pretty important.” She stared at him sternly until he bit into the pie.

GASTER

HP: 50/50

He felt better but the numbers didn’t disappear. They were still clear as day above everyone. He wondered what happened; what was he now?

It seemed he wasn’t the only one healing. The player was hunched over but Wing Dings could see the numbers increasing.

NBKIRLG

HP: 50/99

“Get out of here.” Avenir stood back up, her sword at the ready.

Wing Dings climbed to his feet. Somehow, despite feeling fully healed, he still didn’t feel like him. “What about you?”

“I’m going to hold them off. One of us has to go back and warn everyone.”

“Avenir-”

“I don’t want to hear it. I saw a lot of things just now.” She looked at him with a sad smile. “A... A lot of things.”

They both turned when the Player stood up straighter and assessed the damages.

FRLIKZN

HP: 90/99

“Avenir, what about your boys? They need you!”

Avenir kept her eyes on the Player as she tore the scarf off her neck and tossed it to her companion. “They’re your boys now.”

He grabbed for it and looked at the material in confusion. This was wrong. This was very very wrong. “No...” He imagined the reaction when he returned back to the camp with just the scarf. He imagined the look on the little boy’s face when a human tells him that his mother died in that hall. How could she possibly think he would have any hope of being good for them?! “No! They’re yours! Those are your sons! Sans and Papyrus need you home!” He glared at the back of her skull when she didn’t respond. “Are you even listening?!”

“Hey, Wing Dings... knock knock,” she said with a forced calm in her tone.

He blinked. “...Who’s there?”

“Interrupting bone wall.”

He tensed before glaring at the skeleton. “Avenir, don’t do-” As expected, blue bones shot out of the ground and surrounded her and the Player. If Wing Dings wanted in, he would have to hurt himself in the process.

She turned and glared at him, violet eyes glowing brightly. “Get your ass out of here before the humans find everyone!”

Wing Dings gripped the scarf and backed up. He had no choice. She was sacrificing everything so he could get away.

What did the Player show her?

He wrapped the scarf around his neck as he ran. It didn’t feel like it fit correctly.

It never would.

-

 

The explanation was quick. As soon as he ran into the camp, monsters turned to him in confusion. It was like they didn’t know it was him. It took them a moment after seeing the scarf to know who he was.

Asgore tilted his head at first. “Hello, sir. I’m sorry... I’ve never seen a monster quite like you.”

“Asgore... It’s me. Wing Dings? The _human_?” The confusion still sat but he knew they didn’t have time for this. “We have to get to Mount Ebott. The humans are heading there now.”

Like a switch, Asgore’s expression changed. He turned to his fellow monsters. “To Ebott! Protect the children with your very lives!” He knew they would.

The call to action caused all the remaining warriors to drop everything to then head out to the mountain as quickly as possible. Wing Dings was right with them. He moved as fast as his legs could carry him. This was enough death. No one else was to die today.

As they climbed the mountain, everyone kept a quick pace. Their weapons were at the ready as they approached the entrance to the caverns. Where they knew there were children and only one person with enough power to hold off any humans from hurting them. While she was certainly a capable adversary, it was highly doubtful she could keep from being overrun if everyone attacked at once.

And as they climbed and approached the top where the entrance was hidden, they could feel the heat of magic. It moved in bursts and lit up the twilight descending world around them.

Asgore felt it and gripped his trident tighter. “Tori!” He ran ahead, eyes flashing as fire ignited from his free paw.

Gerson charged as well, large hammer in hand and at the ready. Everyone followed suit.

Wing Dings froze for a moment as the numbers overwhelmed his senses. The battle was horrible. All their names, all the HP...

He could hardly see who was fighting who.

Then his soul filled with dread.

AVENIR

HP: .000001/35

The Player held her unconscious body with a grin on their face. “What? Did you think I’d let you miss this death?” They tsked.

He tried to keep the emotion out of his voice as he spoke to the other human. “This doesn’t have to be this way. Humans and monsters can live together.”

“Sure, but killing them is so much more fun. And the best part? You can do it penalty free. Hell, you even get rewarded!” They looked directly above Wing Dings’ head. “You know what I’m talking about! You’ve got a few under your belt!”

His stomach tightened as he remembered.

“C’mon, Gaster. I can give you a free pass. I’ll spare you this time but you have to promise me you’ll take care of these things. Maybe I’ll even let you keep a pet! Like this one. Or maybe the abomination you let get away?”

His stomach tightened more. He snarled. “I would rather die than join you again!”

They shrugged. “Alright. Have it your way.” The adjustment of the body in their arms was quick. But it wasn’t as quick as the knife slicing clean through the bone of Avenir’s neck.

Wing Dings stood frozen as the body turned to dust and fell. She didn’t open her eyes, she didn’t even flinch. Maybe that meant she didn’t feel it. The thought did little to comfort him.

The Player managed to catch some of the dust in their hand. They blew it in Wing Dings face. He didn’t feel it go into his eyes but he didn’t remember blinking either. He stood by, the dust invading his senses as she was treated with such disrespect. His mind raced with all the imagest of Avenir. The fighting, the laughter, the jokes. The children. All left behind because one human wanted to play a game.

The scientist saw red. Suddenly, he was attacking; his blasters met at his sides in sizes he never thought possible. He missed the Player. So, he tried again. Then again. Then again.

It would frustrate him if it wasn’t for the collateral damage in his wake. Their screams were a welcome substitution for his target. At some point, he lost track of the Player and began taking his aggression out on the other human warriors. There was a wide smile on his face as he watched human bodies drop.

A large number of Asgore’s army had to find ways to get away from the blasts.

“Wing Dings! Have you lost your mind?!” The king cried out as he just barely forced Grillby behind him and away from the human who caught the brunt of the blast.

The scientist couldn’t hear him. Not now that he was finally making some true progress for them. “You wanted this, right?!” Wing Dings cried out as another human collapsed with their HP at zero. “Does this fulfill your sick desires?! Do you feel anything?!”

“Do _you_?”

The voice came from behind him. There was the feeling of a sharp pain in his side. He was pushed away just as quickly.

“Because I’m starting to think you’re even more numb than me.”

GASTER

HP: 25/50

He stumbled and held his wounded side. The world came back from the void. He saw the bodies; all human with very little dust. He didn’t feel even a shred of remorse as he let out a sigh of relief upon his discovery.

But the Player had one last trick.

“Unless you want the Queen’s death on your conscience, you will all step into that cave.”

In the time that Wing Dings was murdering people, the true enemy had dragged Toriel out of hiding. She was holding her head up as straight, still managing to hold an air of dignity in her moment of capture.

TORIEL

HP: 12/40

“Tori...” Asgore stepped forward.

Wing Dings grabbed hold of his large arm. “They’ll kill her.”

“Listen to your pet scientist, your Majesty... We wouldn’t want you to lose her too soon, now would we?” The Player smiled and dug the knife into her throat.

Wing Dings could see light flickering in Toriel’s eyes. She was preparing an attack. However, she did so with a cool confidence he had yet to see anywhere else. She could still converse without even a hit of rage in her voice. “This doesn’t have to be like this. I’m sure we can work out a compromise to end this war.”

“Funny. I thought this _was_ the compromise.” Their smile widened. “My idea was to go in the caverns and clear away all the vermin you’ve been saving.” They looked to Wing Dings. Then to Asgore. “But we all have a sequel to look forward to so I would rather not kill you now. You still have a job to do, Mom.” They tossed her down.

Toriel snarled and released her attack. It landed in the dead center of the Player's chest and depleted their health quite a bit. But it wasn't enough to kill them.

JTIFMDS

HP: 2/99

It was then the Player laughed. “Feisty. I like that. I’ll remember that.” They pointed at the cave. “Go. Unless you want me to murder children.” Their voice was softer and more forced but they tried to cover it up by standing tall.

“You’re horrible.”

“So they say. But, sadly, I’m just a product of the way I was raised..” There was motion from the woods and up walked more humans holding weapons. They were completely outmanned.

Without turning around, they all backed up. Anyone who moved too slowly caught a swipe from one of the humans moving closer.

The Player stood back and smirked at them with a hand still covering the spot that Toriel burned. They gave a little wave to the monsters.

As soon as they were all in the cave, there was a low hum. Wing Dings watched, eyes wide as something sheen covering the entrance. It made a deep humming noise as it settled into place. Twilight was able to shine through. He walked up and pushed at it.

It didn’t budge.

He slammed his shoulder against it with no luck then backed up to watch those with more physical strength attempt it. Soon, the ground was covered in boot and claw marks from the attempts. The mouth of the cavern was singed from the fire attacks of Grillby and Toriel when everyone else became tired of trying to push it.

Anything burned away just revealed more barrier. There was no going around it.

It felt as if they spent an entire day fighting to put a dent in the barrier. But through fire and blasts and melee attacks, the magic still stayed solid in its place.

They all were panting, exhausted from the many failed attempts.

“Come.” Asgore said in a tired whisper as he pulled himself to his feet. “Let us be sure everyone is all right.”

Everyone else climbed from their spots. Wing Dings stared a little longer at the barrier and tried to forget about the people waiting. He was not looking forward to this part.

 

-

The children weren’t too far from the entrance. Possibly so they could find their way out in case the hiding spot were to become compromised. Luckily it didn't come to a need for them to run and hide. They didn't even seem to notice the battle happening out front.

It looked as though the caverns went on forever. Even as they approached the house, Wing Dings could tell this place could easily house what was left of all the monsters. The numbers had dwindled to a handful. Even if there were thousands of children, they could all live comfortably in the mountain.

But that didn’t make it right.

Toriel opened the door and ushered out the children. When Wing Dings saw the massive amount of little ones, he wondered how the queen could possibly keep tabs on all of them. Then he felt his stomach drop as he remembered most of them were now orphans.

Something blue and red rushed by him and proceeded to tackle Gerson to the ground. Another small group of rabbits and dogs had their own tearful reunions. A young lizard child cried immediately at the sight of Delta and buried her face into the older warrior’s chest when she was lifted. Those without kids stood off to the side and tried to aid Asgore and Toriel in their attempt to break the news to newly orphaned children.

But then Wing Dings saw them.

With their hands clasping one another’s, the two skeleton boys walked out of the house behind everyone else. Sans looked around, his damaged eye socket now bandaged. But the other socket looked around with a painfully desperate hope. The younger brother just followed the motions in confusion, possibly too young to catch the severity of the situation. However, he knew what they were looking for. “MOM AND DAD ARE HOME?”

Wing Dings stepped up to him before the king and queen could see them. Despite it all, he should be the one to break the news to them. For some reason, Avenir made it clear that he was to watch over them in her place. The 'why' still remained to be seen.

He pulled the scarf from his neck and wiped at the dust on his face as best he could with his hand. He felt sick as he remembered whose dust. “....Sans...”

The older skeleton child turned to him. His white pupil dimmed as they fell on the human. “...oh no...”

Papyrus inched behind his big brother as the stranger knelt in front of them.

“I’m sorry, Sans.” Wing Dings held out the scarf.

Small, shaky hands reached out and took the red cloth. No other words needed to be said. His mother was wrong; it was another nightmare that came into the real world. Just like all the others. His grip tightened as his teeth clenched tighter than normal. Tears wanted to fall but Sans desperately willed them back. He wanted to be brave. He had to be brave! For Pap.

Be brave. Be strong. Papyrus needed him now more than ever...

Sans pressed his face into the scarf in a vain attempt to hide his crying.

Wing Dings just stayed by and watched. He looked up as Sans numbers began to change.

SANS

HP: 20/20

Sans dropped to his knees, face still in the scarf as his shoulders shook and he fought against soft sobs.

SANS

HP: 19/19

Curious....

“HEY!”

Wing Dings was pulled away from the sight to see the younger brother had acquired some nerves and glared at him. But, with the skeleton’s innocent gaze and short stature, it was impossible to be intimidated. The rabbit children scared him more than this skeleton.

“YOU MADE BRUDDER SAD! BAD!”

“pap... i-it’s okay...” Sans rubbed at his nostril hole with his sleeve and looked up. “just... just tearing up a little... the dirt in this place... it’s fine.”

Papyrus didn’t look so sure. He continued to pout at Wing Dings.

“She told me to take care of you two.” Sort of. “I intend to do so. If you’ll let me.” He held out a hand and sat patiently while Sans stared at it.

It took the boy a moment. He could tell this man to shove it and work on a way for him and his brother to just grow up together. Surely, there were a lot of kids without parents now. They would all figure something out. However, who was he to turn down such an offer? Wasn’t Papyrus worth more than his own pride? If he really wanted what was best for his brother, then having an adult to depend on was within their best interest. Sure, it wasn’t their mother or father. But it was someone. Maybe someday this guy would even make a pretty okay guardian to them.

Papyrus stood by their side, looking between the two in confusion.

“...yeah...” Finally, Sans placed his hand in Wing Dings. “...okay. mom trusted you. i should probably trust you too...”

Wing Dings smiled softly and wrapped his fingers around the small, bony hand. Deep down, he looked at these two children and felt tremors of terror. He wasn’t even close to a father, much less _their_ father. He didn’t even know them beyond stories. And yet, they were entrusted to him.

What was Avenir thinking? What was _he_ thinking?!

He tried to keep it from showing on his face as the hand was removed from his own in order to let its owner turn and give a huge smile to his little brother. “paps, this is mom and dad’s friend. he’s gonna be watching until they... well, for a while.”

Papyrus still didn’t look too sure. He shuffled a little further behind Sans and peeked around his brother.

Wing Dings smiled and put out his hand again, this time for the smaller skeleton. “Hello, I’m Wing Dings.”

Sans stared at him for a moment before confusion mixed with a flat expression. “really?”

Papyrus interrupted before the human could ask. “DINGS!” Another small hand slapped into his own as the younger of the brothers gave him a wide, innocent smile.

Sans looked at Wing Dings and shrugged. “guess we’re your kids now...” The happy look faded as soon as he was sure Papyrus couldn’t see him. The free eye socket welled up even though he was still trying to keep his tone light. The younger brother didn’t notice. He was still young and still perfectly innocent to the events which lead them here.

Wing Dings watched as the HP numbers above Sans began to waver. For a few seconds, they flipped between 19 and 18 at a rapid pace before settling back on the former.

The human let out a soft breath he didn’t realize he was holding. He was scared for the boy in a way he didn’t know he could feel. It was a helpless feeling. Not so much in the idea of simply not having the ability to help but more in the lack of knowledge. He had no idea how to help. It was a feeling he didn’t want to make his home but had a feeling it would become a regular emotion in his life from now on.

He didn’t like feeling so lost.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm keeping it open in case I find myself itching to add more to it. After all, there's still a ways to go until "Wing Dings" becomes the Gaster we all know(?) and love.  
> So, let me know what you guys think! And if it does continue, please give poor little Sans all the hugs. He's gonna need it.


End file.
